Soccer squad shows it's bigger than leprechauns for Euro 2012

DUBLIN AIRPORT was a leprechaun-free zone for the Republic of Ireland soccer team’s latest departure to an international soccer tournament.

There was no Bertie Ahern turning up for an election-day handshake, either. Nor was Roy Keane, the man so unamused by the 2002 farewell circus, anywhere to be seen.

But the lessons of Saipan were still being taken to heart. Thus, the spectacle of players being mobbed by well-wishers was absent too. And a decade after Mick “we don’t do back doors” McCarthy and his team braved the masses en route to the Far East, Giovanni Trapattoni’s Ireland slipped quietly through the VIP area on the way to Euro 2012.

The sun shone this time, unlike then. The real sun, that is, not the newspaper of the same name, which in 2002 had supplied the leprechauns. But regardless of weather, it would have been a sunny team manager who fielded the last media questions before he and the players flew out to their training camp in Italy.

Trapattoni had seen his team extend its unbeaten run to 13 games via Saturday’s 1-0 win over Bosnia, in a party atmosphere at a sweltering Aviva Stadium. So, as he often says of his players when they find form, the manager was “in a good moment”.

Even a late recurrence of Keith Fahey’s injury, ruling the player out of the tournament, could not cloud the Italian’s mood. On the contrary, it underlined his lesson that personnel could change now without affecting the system.

Thus Bosnia, like many skilful opponents before them, enjoyed plenty of possession but no goals, while Ireland abandoned early caution to win well. “I am happy because at last this team achieve a good balance,” said the manager of his work in progress.

Another work in progress, Trapattoni’s English, is not yet quite as balanced as the team. Consequently his interpreter, Manuela Spinelli, has to cover more ground than the Irish midfield, translating both his Italian and some of his attempts at English metaphor.

There were puzzled expressions when he said he needed to use the Irish team’s energy in Poland “like a doctor”, until it emerged that he meant he had to ration it, like penicillin in a field hospital.

Then defending Paul Green – Fahey’s replacement – against the implied criticism by one reporter, Trapattoni accused the scribe of liking “only this”: and mimed playing a violin.

He was more prosaic when asked how the prospect of his latest big tournament compared with his many previous ones. Yes, he agreed, there had been plenty of “opportunities” in his life. But these were now in the past.

It was important to prove he was again – he looked questioningly at Ms Spinelli – “utile?”. “Useful?” she offered. “Useful,” echoed the manager.

It was good to have done it before, but what mattered was that, “I will do again tomorrow”.

The ghosts of tournaments past loomed again, briefly, when he was reminded about criticisms of Aiden McGeady from both Keane and Andy Townsend. He had to enquire who the latter was.

He asked of Townsend and Keane: “They play always well?” He spoke of McGeady’s “evolution”. He was always talented, he said, now he had added “maturity” and “personality” to his game. As a result, “he is in a very good moment”.